


FORGET [Jean Kirschtein x Reader / MODERN AU]

by reinersbb



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alpha Jean Kirstein, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Developing Relationship, F/M, Fluff and Smut, French Jean Kirstein, Smut, Top Jean Kirstein
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-16 09:48:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29080374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reinersbb/pseuds/reinersbb
Summary: Newly single freshman in university who's just hoping to move on from a completely unexpected break up and the aftermath of emotions following with it. Jean was supposed to help you forget the pain you felt. Neither of you were supposed to develop feelings along the way.A simple hookup leads to another... and another...and... well?（（ＳＭＵＴ）） (Jean x Reader Modern Time skip/University AU)Started: 01/27/2021[Available on Wattpad&AO3]
Relationships: Jean Kirstein & Reader, Jean Kirstein/Reader
Comments: 26
Kudos: 126





	1. Pumpkin Spice

The fresh mid-October air plunged into your lungs after inhaling deeply through your nostrils as soon as you broke through the doors belonging to the lecture hall. Though the temperature outside was brisk, the sun was still shining above brightly. The white blotchy clouds were condensed together almost like puzzle pieces that were yet to fit together. You were grateful for perfect weather on a day like this, and couldn't help but smile to yourself out of pure bliss. Because in all honesty, being stuck inside of lectures for the majority of the day wasn't ideal, but you sure were paying good money for it.

Pinching at the thin cotton material of your jacket, you pulled the fabric closer against your body when a gust of wind whipped past you. Maybe you should've thrown on a thicker jacket, but it's not like you took the initiative to check the weather for the day ahead when your attention was focused on making it out of your dorm room before being late for your eight am.

Stopping at a large water fountain that was positioned perfectly center in the intersection of two walkways, you took a slight step with your left foot to turn and look around at all of the people floating about. Awkwardly searching for a particular face in the crowd as the sound of water gently overlapping played in your ears from the old fountain. Today, you had plans to hang out with your boyfriend, the plan was to meet up with him at this exact location.

_'Maybe he's running late...'_

When another two minutes passed of you keeping an eye out for his familiar face, and there was still no sight of your boyfriend, you pulled out your phone to see if he'd sent you a text of his whereabouts or any piece of information. A clear notification screen surprised you, maybe even worried you just the slightest bit, but you shoved that hollow feeling down deep inside of you to tried to ignore it.

_'Okay, maybe I should just text him.'_

Today 15:04  
Where are you?✓

Your message had been sent, all you had to do now was play the very annoying waiting game.

_'He wouldn't just ghost you for no reason without an explanation.'_

You tried reasoning with yourself.

Your eyes tore away from your phone screen, deciding it was better to distract yourself with something instead of aimlessly waiting around for who knows how long. With only one glance around the perimeter, you elected that a nearby coffee cart parked further down away would be your means of distraction. What's a better distraction than caffeine?

As you closed in on the dark oak wooden coffee cart, you couldn't help but notice a familiar face standing behind the cash register. The young man stood slumped over, a disengaged expression on his face, almost as if he were frowning. You lifted a brow quizically, taking the last few steps of your stride towards the cart.

The man with blond hair and prominent sideburns perked up behind the register as you stood adjacent to him, "(L/N), is that you?"

"Yeah, hey, Thomas! I didn't know you worked here. It's been a while since we've last spoke, how have you been?" You smiled, reminiscing in the few friendly memories you shared together.

Thomas was in your German class at the beginning of the semester until you decided to drop the class and swap your minor out for French instead. There hasn't been much or any conversation between the two of you since then.

"I just started two weeks ago, and about that..." the slight smile he'd managed to put on his face when you originally approached the cart faded away momentarily, "not so good actually," his cheeks flushed out of embarrassment and his smile kept wavering.

"What happened? Are you okay?" You asked, genuinely concerned about your friends' feelings.

"My girlfriend broke up with me yesterday," he admitted with a sigh.

"Mina?" You asked and Thomas nodded, "that must suck, weren't you and her together for a while?" You could remember the few mentions of his ex-girlfriend in some of the conversations you had together before.

"Since junior year of high school, she was my first girlfriend," his light brown eyes fell to the counter. "It was so... all of a sudden. She didn't even tell me why, but, in all honesty, I think it was for another guy," his fingertips tapped away at the counter anxiously.

Hearing Thomas tell you about the recent breakup with his ex made your stomach twist and turn into knots for some unknown reason. There was suddenly a burning temptation to check your phone, but you refrained from doing so.

"I'm sorry to hear that, and I wish there was something I could say to make you magically feel better," you shot him a sympathetic smile when he finally lifted his eyes to look up at you.

"You know, I kind of feel a little bit better talking to you about it," Thomas admitted with a meek chuckle. "Anyways," he flicked the brim of his visor, "enough about me, is there anything I could get you?" He suggested to the menu of drinks.

"Surprise me?"

A small grin pulled at his lips, "on it."

You couldn't help but notice how Thomas's emotions seemed to have pulled a full one-eighty compared to when you saw him standing idle behind the counter just a few minutes ago.

"Here you go, one large pumpkin spice latte from our seasonal menu," Thomas reached over the counter, handing you a rather large paper cup, "careful, (L/N), it's hot."

You accepted the latte with slight hesitation, "thanks, how much do I owe you?"

You were struggling to reach your wallet inside of your purse when Thomas said, "don't worry about it, the drink is on me."

"Are you sure? Because I can-"

"Think of it as thanks for talking to me," Thomas showed a genuine smile while plucking a napkin from a dispenser to give to you, "just in case you need one of these."

"Fine, but I'm paying for my next drink," you said, but still feeling reluctant to just walk away without paying for the drink.

Quickly, you reached into your purse, feeling around for any loose money lying about. After a few seconds, you swiftly inserted a few crumpled bills and loose change into the nearly empty tip jar without even examining the tip amount.

Thomas laughed after watching your efforts, "see you around, (L/N)."

"Bye! Thanks again, Thomas," you sipped on your hot beverage as you steadily walked away from the coffee cart.

When you passed by someone looking down at their phone, it reminded you to check yours to see if there was any response from your significant other.

To no avail, there were no new messages on your lock screen, only a single notification that alerted you of a spam email message. You tabbed into your text messages once again because the curiosity gnawed away at your insides.

Today 15:02  
Where are you?✓✓

Immediately you felt your heart sink through your chest as you noticed that he'd definitely read your message. The same annoying worrisome thoughts intruded your mind once again, and this time it was difficult clearing them from your headspace.

Today 15:09  
Floch?✓

Unfortunately, the smile you had plastered on your face quickly faded away. You groaned under your breath, casually placing the hot beverage just at your lips, the scent of various warm spices tickled your nose as you precariously watched the chat bubbles appear then disappear, and reappear once again. The hot liquid almost scorched your mouth as you anxiously drew in a sip, and then another, all while waiting for his response.

A sense of bile rose through your throat as the chat bubble disappeared and finally a response from Floch appeared. You read the message over and over again, trying to decipher if there was some hidden intent behind it.

Floch❤️:  
I'm at your dorm building

The page stilled for a moment when the second message of his came through.

Floch ❤️:  
We need to talk

_'We need to talk... that could only mean one thing.'_

In a complete utter panic, and with every intent on running to your dorm room, you forced your phone into the depths of your pocket. You carelessly cut a sharp right, the thoughts in your head running rampant as you headed for your dorm to see what it was exactly your boyfriend wanted to talk about.

Your mistake was forgetting to double-check for any people around you before taking off into a sprint. Because now you came into contact with what felt like a slab of concrete in a head-on collision.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye. The fresh latte flew from your grasp and tumbled onto the sidewalk, splashing you with its scorching hot liquid mid-process. Your purse fell from off of your arm as you landed flat on your back in front of everyone, and your victim had fallen to the ground with you- wait- on top of you?

"I'm so fucking sorry," you hissed at the burning sensation from the drink, but also at the pain you felt from falling onto your back.

Hovering above you was a man dressed in a heather grey tracksuit. In one ear was an earbud, while the other earbud was detached and dangling in your face from the neck slit of his hoodie. A few pieces of his hair fell over his forehead and the sides of his face. You swore you could hear the faintest music pumping through his earbuds.

You blinked a few times, unsure if you were seeing things clearly as he pushed himself off of you and held out a hand for you to take. Without another word, or any hesitation whatsoever, you placed your hand into his and he firmly clasped it, pulling you up onto the solid ground. The two of you bumped into each other but you promptly took a step back after you found your equilibrium.

"I hope I didn't crush you, are you alright?"

"Huh?" your eyelashes fluttered together rapidly, snapping yourself out of the weird trance you were in.

The unnamed mad chuckled dryly, "are you okay? That was quite a nasty fall, I hope I didn't break you or anything," he said with a hint of amusement in his voice, but overall it seemed that he was genuinely concerned about your well-being.

"Oh, yeah, I'll be okay," you said, taking a look at your ruined jacket and shirt that was damp and beginning to grow cold from the latte, "shit."

His intense light brown eyes stared down past your feet, examining the spoilt cup of coffee and the rest of the scene itself.

"Here," he scooped up your purse from off of the ground for you.

You awkwardly accepted your purse from the man and readjusted both straps of your backpack on your shoulders.

As he stood in front of you, you couldn't help but stare at him, fully taking in his features. He was tall. Much taller than your boyfriend. His long jaw was sharp and perfectly lined with facial hair. His hair was long and a nice shade of light ash-brown and seemed to be shaved on the sides like an undercut. But, it was hard to tell since locks and strands of his hair were sporadic from the fall. Some pieces of his hair were stuck to his forehead from a thin layer of sweat.

It was now that you realized how his chest was rising and falling rather rapidly with quick heavy breaths. It seemed that he'd been on a jog before you came crashing into him, _at least it would explain the outfit._

"Again, I'm sorry for running into you like a crazy person," you breathed out an anxious breath, "but I have to get going now, I have somewhere to be."

You snatched the littered coffee cup from off of the ground and shoved it into the nearest wastebasket as you cleared the scene. You could've sworn that you heard the man calling out to you, but you refused to turn around, leaving him in the same exact spot of the incident. All you wanted to do was get to your dorm, talk to your boyfriend, and change clothes.

****************

"Hey babe," you said uneasily as you saw Floch standing outside of your dorm.

Floch had his back pressed against the door, his eyes glued to his phone, and his face was expressionless as the blue light fanned over his skin. When he heard your voice, he slowly tucked his phone away into his front pants pocket. Forwarding his attention to you, you opened your arms widely to greet him with a hug, but at the last second, you decided against it due to your damp top.

"What the hell happened to you? You look like shit," he said with a slight chuckle as he examined your appearance.

His words stung a great amount, causing you to bite at the inside of your lip, but you ignored him.

"I fell on my way over here, my latte spilled on me in the process," you groaned, remembering the incident that happened not even ten minutes ago. "Do you want to come inside and talk while I change out of this mess?" You asked, heading for the door with your key.

"No, I wanted to make this quick actually," he exhaled uneasily.

"Okay," you wrapped your arms around your chest, holding onto yourself tightly.

Your pulse quickened at the suspense, and the air around you could be cut with a knife while you waited for him to speak. It felt like an eternity had passed until those dreadful words left his lips.

"There's no easy way for me to say this, so I'm just going to come right off the bat by saying that I think we should break up and see other people."

Those dreadful words felt like the ripping of a bandaid, that or a complete slap to the face. The horrible predictions you tried to ignore happened to be true.

Oh, how you wished you were wrong.

You stared at him like a deer caught in headlights, trying to make sure that you heard him correctly.

"Wha.. what?" you croaked, your mouth was dry.

The silence was deafening, and the ringing sensation buzzed your ears. You watched as Floch's mouth moved, but no words could be heard over the persistent ringing in your ears. Floch gracelessly went for a hug, and even though you wanted to hug him- cling onto him and try to talk things out, he'd already let go of you. The bitter scent of citrus, the smell of him, plagued you and almost brought you to your knees with a wave of emotions following along with it.

"I'm sorry," you were finally able to hear him once again.

"Floch... can't we just step inside my room and talk things over?" You didn't want to sound like you were begging for him to stay, but you didn't just want to break up as if your relationship meant nothing either. "Are you sure about this?"

You and Floch had been dating for not as long as Thomas and Mina were dating, but you two were going to be going on three months whenever the next month arrived. The two of you met on your first day at university, somehow he charmed you in a dorkish-way and the rest was history.

And all this time you were thinking that you were in love with him.

"(Y/N), it's been fun, but I think we'd just be better off going separate ways," Floch took two steps back as he stared at you, but your eyes weren't on him, but rather at his feet. "Again, I'm sorry for this."

The sounds of footsteps grew distant until there was no more sound left, as your eyes stayed nailed to the spot where he once stood. He was gone. For good.

You blinked an infrequent amount of times, only being pulled out of your hypnotic state when the sound of people walking down the hall caught your attention. As soon as you looked up to examine the hall, you made contact with some girl who was blatantly staring at you.

Ignoring the unknown girl, you turned to your door and fumbled with the lock and key for more than a handful of tries. But eventually, you pushed through the oak door with a breeze you closed it behind you. As soon as you were alone in the dimly lit room is when a wave of emotions overcame you and the tears began rolling uncontrollably.


	2. Coffee Girl

You could still recall the ringing sensation you felt vibrate through your ears when those words left Floch's mouth. Those horrid series of words tormented you for the rest of the evening, and through the morning of the next day.

You had spent the rest of your Friday night in bed, alone, in your dark dorm room by yourself.

_A Friday night that'd gone to waste._

You were slightly thankful that your dorm mate never came back last night. Not that you didn't like your roommate, because you did, it's just you knew how awkward it would be to sob your heart out in front of someone. Your roommate was a good person, but when it came to emotions and people-stuff, she was very blunt and confrontational.

At this point during the day, you had no more tears left to give. You've run dry. The mid-morning sun that broke through the window to your immediate right caused a stream of light to cascade across you and your bed and into the rest of the blackened room.

Your fingertips curled over the edge of the comforter, pulling the blanket up against your neck as you rolled over onto your left side, facing away from the window and to the openness of the room. Your eyes were locked on the floor, or specifically, the light that snuck in from underneath the door. You held your gaze at that particular spot until the sounds of familiar voices approached the door, along with shadows that rippled in the light from under the door that peered in.

The door handle jiggled until eventually you were exposed to the people behind it in all of your post-breakup glory.

"Shit, (Y/N), you're still in bed? Are you hungover or something?" Your roommate asked, standing in the middle of the doorway with her girlfriend, "it's almost noon."

_Almost noon?_

By this point, you've already accepted the fact that you were going to have to face the music and spill what happened between you and Floch. Because she was going to get it out of you anyway.

Ymir was very _perceptive_ like that.

"No, I'm awake," you admitted.

As soon as the reply left your lips, she went for the light switch and turned the light on. At the initial contact, the light burned your eyes and you tightly clamped your eyelids shut. You battled with yourself with a series of blinks until you were able to keep your eyes open completely.

"Hey guys," you finally greeted.

"Hi, (Y/N)," the small blonde greeted with a bright smile on her face, but once she got a good look at you, the smile faded away, "are you alright?"

"I'm not okay, actually," you knew for a fact that it wasn't best for you to lie.

Ymir got a better look at you, "what the hell happened to you then? You look like you've been crying," her intimidating eyes stared you down like she was doing a full-blown analysis.

"Floch broke up with me," you said, finally sitting up straight in your bed, the comforter rippling down from your chest.

Historia looked at you, eyes wide, "I don't understand, you guys seemed so perfect together, why would he do that?"

You sighed, "I don't know."

In all honesty, you asked yourself that question over too many times last night.

_'Why would he do this? Why would he break up with me? Just because he wanted to go separate ways? What kind of excuse is that? I thought we were on the same page.'_

"He must be out of his mind to break up with you," Historia approached your bedside, taking a seat on the edge of the mattress with you.

Historia was basically your third roommate even though she didn't live in the same dorm with you and Ymir. You thought it a little odd the few times Ymir would show up without Historia by her side. That just goes to show how often the two were with one another.

You and Floch weren't like that though. There were days you'd go without seeing each other but would make up on missed time on the days the two of you would hang out. Which was supposed to be last night.

"Men, such assholes," Ymir scoffed, the weight shifting in the bed when Ymir sat near the foot of the bed to the right of Historia, "I can't stand them," she wrapped an arm around the petite blonde's shoulders.

"Floch didn't even deserve you anyways," Historia spoke with a comforting smile, you could tell that she was trying her best to make you feel better.

You were thankful for both Historia and Ymir, especially in times like this. The two of them made up the majority of the small handful of friends you had.

"Thanks," your eyes fell, staring at the comforter as your fingernails fiddled with the material. "Looks like I'm going to be third-wheeling a lot more now," you chuckled dryly.

Occasionally, you, Floch, Ymir, and Historia would go on double dates together. You guessed that was an end to that tradition.

"Doesn't sound like a problem to me," Ymir said. "Speaking of being a third-wheel, you should come out with us tonight, (y/n), it'll be fun."

"Wha-"

"This frat party, we were invited last night," Historia said, her big blue eyes staring at you sympathetically.

A party? While the thought of going out did _tempt_ you, you still weren't sure if getting shit-faced and having to deal with a hangover the next day would be worth it if you still had to study for a test you had on Monday.

"I don't know you guys, I have this test on Monday and..."

But at the same time, how could you even focus on studying when Floch was _constantly_ stuck on your mind? Sitting in your room pining over a guy who probably wasn't even thinking about you for the second day in a row would be worthless.

"Come on, (Y/N), please come out with us tonight so you can get your mind off of everything," Historia pleaded with a cheerful tone, "there's no use sitting inside crying over some jerk."

Ymir pinched Historia's right cheek, "how could you possibly say no to this cute face?"

They were right. You knew they were right. You were just broken up with, you needed to go out and have a good time tonight.

Historia placed a gentle, comforting hand on top of your knee, "look, we can't force you to go with us, but just know you deserve to have fun and happiness."

At this point, you'd practically made up your decision in your mind.

"Fine, I'll go with you guys," your chest dropped with a light sigh and Historia gathered you into her arms with a small hug.

"Great!" Historia exclaimed before letting go of you to hop off of the bed.

Ymir followed Historia off of the bed, only stopping to turn and look at you, "be ready by ten, okay? Or sometime around then, it doesn't really matter."

After the conversation you had with both of them, you were invited to go out with them for lunch, which you accepted because you had skipped out on dinner yesterday. After lunch, you genuinely needed some time to yourself to get a short study session in, along with a post-breakup social media cleanse, erasing every single trace you had connected with Floch.

*****************

Your freshly shaved legs were crossed as you were sitting on the floor, your posture was anything less than angelic as you leaned hunched forward staring at yourself in your body mirror. You were wrapped in a damp cotton towel, getting ready for the awaited party. Music from your favorite playlist steadily playing in the background from your laptop that was positioned on top of your bed as you applied your makeup.

Historia sat down on the ground next to you, her petite frame wrapped in one of Ymir's robes as she applied makeup onto her face. While Ymir sat on top of her bed, one arm propped behind her head as she was absorbed into her phone absentmindedly, just waiting for both you and Historia to finish getting ready for the party.

When you finished applying your makeup, you packed up all of your items you had strewn about on the floor before zipping your makeup bag shut. You negligently tossed the bag of cosmetics onto your unmade bed before closing your laptop, cutting off the music with it.

Effortlessly scooping up the black spaghetti-strapped dress you had laid flat out onto your bed. Your fingertips needing over the cool satin material as you examined the dress in its entirety. While neither Ymir nor Historia was paying attention, you threw on matching black laced underwear before putting the dress, making sure to be careful not to mess up your hair and makeup.

"Ooh, you're wearing that number?" The sound of a sing-song expression from Historia made you forward your attention to her.

Historia ran a hand along with the material of her dress, adjusting the light pink halter dress she wore. A smile appeared on your face as you playfully stuck a pose.

"What do you think, Historia," you said, breaking from your pose, "am I doing too much?"

"I think you look like someone who is going to have _lots_ of fun tonight," she winked at you knowingly.

After throwing on some black heels to match with the outfit, you examined yourself in the mirror. Turning around to stare at yourself from behind, examining the exposed portion of your back.

Just as all three of you were about to leave for the party, you spritzed yourself with a vanilla-scented perfume before grabbing your phone and handbag. After the three of you left the dorm room, you checked to see the time on your phone. The clock read half-past ten.

Only then did you notice the red battery icon in the upper right-hand corner on your screen. Somehow, you forgot to charge your phone this whole time.

" _Dammit_ ," you hissed under your breath, slapping yourself mentally.

"What's wrong, (Y/N)?" Ymir turned to look at you.

"I forgot to charge my phone," you groaned inwardly before locking the device and shoving it into your handbag, wanting to persevere any battery life you had left.

"It'll be alright, you shouldn't be needing your phone much tonight anyways," Historia shrugged, wrapping her arm around Ymir's.  
  


**********

"Do I know anyone here?" You asked, following up the tall set of steps behind Ymir and Historia.

"You might, I know some of mine and Historia's friends will be here tonight," Ymir turned to look over her shoulder back at you momentarily.

Some of our friends. Though Ymir and Historia were your friends, you never brought it upon yourself to get to know anyone inside of their inner friend circle. It's not that you didn't want or care to, but most of the time when you went out it would've been with Floch or all four of you.

Most of the other times, Floch never seemed to be too much into parties, so you never indulged in those events either. Limiting your friend-making experiences.

Pushing through the already opened front door of the large frat house, the three of you entered into the overly-packed foyer. There were people already drunk out of their minds, even though it was hardly eleven.

The smell of different mixtures of smoke clouded your senses, and the volume of music thumped through your ears and all of your senses combined.

Historia held a grip onto your hand, along with Ymir's as the three of you formed a chain, pushing through the overly-dense crowd. The three of you stayed attached as a human chain until all of you made it across the scene where the majority of people were dancing.

Ymir informed both of you that she was going to run off and find some drinks for all of you before disappearing into the sea of people. Historia urged you to dance with her, complying with her demand, the both of you began dancing together along with the music that was bumping heavily in the background.

During mid-dance, you felt a hand firmly cup your ass, causing you to jump and lose your rhythm with the beat of the music. Immediately, you turned around to see who it was, only to realize it was just some drunk douchebag wearing sunglasses that was leaning in _too_ close for your liking.

"Dude, fuck off," you snatched his hand away from your rear.

Historia bitched at the guy over the music as you regained your composure. Eventually, he retreated to somewhere else in the crowd.

"Are you okay? I'm sorry that jerk did that to you," Historia held onto your shoulders.

"I'll be okay, let's not worry about it," you tried reassuring Historia that you'd be fine.

"Okay, well we should probably go find Ymir," Historia called out, nodding her head into the direction Ymir left in.

Following along in agreement, you were only mildly upset that a drunk idiot had to ruin your mood this early on in the night. Almost making you wish that you stayed back home in the dorm.

"Ymir!" Historia called out, searching for her girlfriend as both of you pushed into the kitchen.

Skimming through all the random faces floating about in the kitchen, both of you realized that Ymir was nowhere in the vicinity.

Historia let out a sigh and turned to face you, "I'm going to go find Ymir, you can stay right here if you want to."

"I'll just stay around here and keep an eye out for Ymir, probably search for some snacks to eat on or something," you shrugged.

Historia smiled and made her departure from the kitchen. After the blonde-haired girl was out of sight, you forwarded your attention to the array of snacks and other food items laying across the large kitchen island.

Popping a few grapes into your mouth from the platter of different fruits and cheeses, you glanced around at the coolers placed against the base of the island. Flicking the top to one of the coolers open, you dove your hand into the ice and retrieved a wine cooler. You examined the flavor, _mixed berry_ , and decided that would be good enough.

Pushing the lid on the cooler shut, you stood up straight and took a step back, twisting the cap off of the bottle. You lifted the bottle to your mouth, tasking a swig of the alcoholic beverage as you turned around.

The alcoholic liquid almost sloshed out of your mouth as you partially came into contact with someone. Large hands delicately caught along your waist to stabilize you, along with distancing yourself from said person.

 _'Seriously? Not this shit again.'_ You couldn't help but mentally scold yourself from the re-enactments of yesterday's events.

Your eyes flicked upwards, staring intently through your false lashes at the man who was currently holding onto you.

Familiar intense light brown eyes bored into you, taking in your appearance, "we seriously need to stop running into each other like this, _coffee girl_."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again! Sorry for another filler chapter but I promise the next one will be spic-E, okay? Also, I would’ve had this chapter out sooner but I unexpectedly fell ill yesterday, so sorry about that.


	3. Spin The Bottle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Valentine's day update x

Familiar intense light brown eyes bored into you, taking in your appearance, "we seriously need to stop running into each other like this, _coffee girl_."

The same man from yesterday stood before you, holding onto you, only now he lookeddifferent, _polished_ even. A stark contrast between now and the day previous. His ash-brown hair was effortlessly tamed, almost like the locks of hair had been combed through by his fingers, but his bangs still spilled over his forehead. And in replacement of the heather grey tracksuit, he was clad in a black button-up shirt with the top few-or-so buttons undone, white bottoms that were missing a belt, and black shoes. Everything combined perfectly to create a monochromatic outfit.

Any other time you would've taken into account how favorable the man was, but now definitely was not one of those times.

Maybe this was some sick joke, no, maybe this callous world wanted to torment you and make you suffer for some unknown reason. Wasn't being broken up with enough suffering as is?

_'No, because this world is just that cruel.'_

No words could describe the immense embarrassment you currently felt as your skin began to prickle with a wave of heat that began to arise within your entire body. Both of his hands casually released from your waist when he pulled away from you by taking a step away, but still lingering in your personal bubble. The scent of musky sheer cashmere was prominent as your bodies stood parallel with one another.

You stilled momentarily, backtracking his greeting.

_'Coffee girl.'_

Out of bitterness, you rolled your eyes out of annoyance from the nickname he'd pinned to you, "coffee girl? Seriously?"

"Well," he started with a head tilt, and continued by crossing his arms around his chest, "to be fair, you left without saying your name, coffee girl."

"I'll have you know it was a pumpkin spice latte if we're speaking technicalities," you said matter-of-factly as if it would make _any_ difference.

A cheeky smirk began to pull at his lips as his shoulders lowered, dipping down slightly to lean into you, "okay, _latte girl_ , what's your name then?"

You shielded your annoyance by pressing the mouth of your wine cooler against your lips, taking a swift sip of the cold mixed berry flavored liquid. At this point, you were fuming at the fact he'd hardly said anything but still managed to press all of your buttons by one single comment.

He continued to stand there, awaiting an answer from you. _Preferably your name._

"Okay," you began to speak, causing his body to perk up, "my name is (Y/N)."

He stood up straight to bask in the new information, which only made you yet again realize how tall the man really was. You shifted uncomfortably in your strappy heels, waiting for him to say something. _Anything._

"(Y/N)," your name rolled off of his tongue delicately, and it seemed there was a hint of contemplation on his face, "it's nice to meet you, (Y/N)."

"Likewise, uh..." you paused for a beat, scanning his face with uncertainty since you didn't know his name, "what's your name?"

"My name-"

Just as he opened his mouth to relay his answer, he was cut off by a man who'd just paraded into the kitchen.

"Jean!"

The man turned his head, forwarding his attention to the man you hadn't seen before until now.

_Jean?_

You stared at him as he wasn't paying any attention to you. Quickly, you scanned him up and down once or twice, noticing now that he was wearing black stud earrings that were almost hidden by his hair.

"What is it?" There was an obvious switch in his tone of voice, now he sounded annoyed.

"We're all waiting for you downstairs," the man who you suspected was his friend pointed towards the exit of the kitchen.

"I'm coming, give me a second to grab a beer," he grumbled under his breath.

Jean turned to look away from his friend, his light brown orbs catching onto yours for a split second as he bent down to a cooler and began digging around in the ice.

"Who's your friend?" The man with brunette hair thrown together into a messy bun asked.

He lifted a curious brow, his green eyes were glazed over and glossy as he stared at you with slight interest. Maybe you liked the attention, especially since now you were single. In the back of your mind, you remembered how Historia and Ymir were stressing to have fun and let loose tonight, did that entail hooking up with some stranger that appeared to be some type of fuckboy?

You surely wouldn't hold yourself against it.

"Don't give this drunk bastard any of your attention, (Y/N)," Jean exhaled, beer bottle in hand.

In response his friend flipped him off, "fuck you, Jean, I'm not even that drunk."

"Whatever, Eren, you can go ahead and head down to the basement, I'll just be one more second here," Jean said, motioning to you slightly with his beer bottle.

With that, Eren shoved his hands into his sweat pockets and trudged out of the kitchen, checking out another girl's ass as he exited the kitchen.

Jean turned to look at you, his gaze dropping to your lips and back up to your eyes to hold eye contact, "do you want to come with us downstairs?"

Slight excitement filled your chest at the mention of joining them downstairs. But immediately after you drowned in a puddle of disappointment, remembering that you were waiting around for either one of your friends to show up. Preferably both.

"I'm waiting for my friends right now, sorry," you apologized, but the temptation didn't cease to exist.

"Ah, maybe we'll bump into each other again some other time," he flicked a shred of ice off of the bottle of beer, "see you around."

You stared at the exit longingly after Jean left the area. Maybe you should've gone with him, but you knew it would've been wrong to leave without letting either of your friends know of your whereabouts.

A perfectly good party, and here you were waiting around in the kitchen, appearing to be some type of outcast. You felt inclined to venture off from the kitchen and search for your friends yourself but decided to stay in the place where Historia saw you last.

With what felt like a few minutes later, and you were already on your second wine cooler, a familiar face finally greeted you. And you felt like you could cry out of joy.

"Historia! Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes," you dropped the now empty bottle of your second wine cooler into the garbage bin. "Did you ever find Ymir?" You couldn't help but notice that the blonde was alone.

"Yes! Funny story, she's downstairs with a few of our mutuals, let's go," Historia tugged on your arm eagerly. "I think you'll like them."

Your chest sank. _Downstairs?_ How this all felt too _convenient_ for you _._

*********

With each step you took down the stairs you carefully watched your footing, making sure you didn't misstep since you were wearing heels. Because a trip to the ER would be _such_ a mood killer.

The edge of your fingers ran along with the wooden frame of a pool table that you passed as both of you adventured to a separated area with the most commotion. There were barely any people on the lower floor as if it'd been off-limits and reserved for select individuals. This was a thought that came to mind as you followed behind Historia into the room where all of the chatter was being generated.

Sitting on the collection of l-shaped sofas, chatting amongst one another were a handful of people. No less than ten people give or take.

The air was smoky from a joint that'd been passed around, and steadily thumping in the background was the sound of a familiar song blasting away from upstairs. Out of all of the faces, you spotted Ymir's first.

"Historia, you retrieved (Y/N)! Get over here, we're about to start the game," Ymir waved both of you over.

"What game?" You asked, standing just outside the sectionals, avoiding all eye contact from everyone sitting in the dysfunctional circle.

"Spin the bottle," a guy with short silver hair interrupted, a bottle of fireball sloshing in his hand, "you _do_ know how to play, right?"

"Yeah of course I do..." your eyes darted towards Ymir and Historia, and before you could respond, the man with silver hair continued speaking, grabbing your wrist in response.

"Bet! Sit with me," he sat down next to a girl with brunette hair and you sat between him and Historia. "What'd you say your name was again?"

"Connie, maybe if you weren't tipsy you'd be able to remember that their name is (Y/N)," the Brunette sitting beside him snorted a remark.

Connie whipped his head over his left shoulder towards the brunette, "mind your own business, Sasha."

Your eyes bounced around at the odd-shaped circle, momentarily landing on Jean who was sitting directly across from you. This was the first time you'd looked at him directly since entering the basement.

"There's one issue though, I don't know everyone's names," you gestured to everyone around the circle.

"I'll introduce you to everyone, (Y/N)," Historia spoke out, turning your attention to her.

The blonde quickly went around the circle, introducing you to everyone so you'd be up to speed. You could only hope that you wouldn't accidentally mess up anyone's name. You tried pinning each name to a slight detail about each person so you wouldn't forget.

"Everyone on the floor," Eren said, and by the single command, everyone got to the ground to sit together in a more functional circle.

Historia glanced up at you as you remained sitting on the couch, unsure if you truly wanted to participate. You made eye contact with her, and after staring at those pleading blue eyes of hers, found your way onto the floor yourself.

"We do things a little differently, you have the option to opt-out of a kiss by simply taking a shot," Eren said, his green eyes darting up at you after placing an empty bottle on the floor in the center of everyone.

"Got it."

As the game commenced, you were simply enjoying the observation of all of the combinations of kisses so far, and all of those who took a shot instead until eventually, it was your turn to spin the bottle.

Sitting up on your knees, you reached for the bottle, delicately placing your fingers on the glass. After giving the bottle a swift spin, you sat back watching with anticipation until the momentum began to die down and the bottle stopped completely.

The neck of the bottle aimed slightly off-center with Eren.

A twinge in your heart was evident for some unknown reason as you readied yourself for the kiss. Placing your hands on the floor, the two of you reached for one another until your lips met his chapped ones.

_'One. Two. Three.'_

You counted in your head until the kiss was over with. Sure, Eren was attractive enough, but kissing him surely _didn't_ do anything for you. There was nothing else beneficial to the kiss beside the swapping of spit and the aftertaste of bitter booze from his lips. But, the kiss was still fun nonetheless, you _guessed_.

The turns continued around the circle counterclockwise, everything running smoothly like clockwork as you silently observed everything. That was until Jean reached for the bottle at the center of the circle once it was his turn.

"Go ahead with it, Jean boy," Eren nudged Jean with his elbow.

"Shut the hell up," Jean said, in an attempt to brush Eren off by giving the bottle a good spin.

Jean had already been kissed once so far, and that was when Connie's spin landed on him. Though Jean encouraged Connie to just take a shot, Connie refused, which resulted in a sloppy kiss between the two.

Your teeth sank into the inside of your lip, watching intently as the bottle spins rapidly in wild circles. Anticipation steadily digging away at your insides as the neck of the bottle begins to gradually come to a halt.

_'On me?'_

You surely were seeing things correctly, the neck of the bottle was pointing directly at you. There was no contemplation at all from Jean whether he skip the kiss and take a shot instead as he pushed himself up from his spot without hesitation.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion as Jean crawled across the circle towards you, his light hazel eyes staring through you. There was hardly any time to acknowledge the fluttering sensation in your chest as he closed in.

"Hi," Jean greeted, "are you ready?"

With a head nod of confirmation, Jean slowly bobbed his head down, lips hovering over yours as you sat up straight to meet with him. The familiar scent of musky sheer cashmere, of _him_ , infiltrate your nostrils as your lips finally connect.

A tingling sensation rippled across your body from the initial contact. Chills ran across your skin when Jean collected the side of your face into his hand, bringing you in closer towards him to deepen the kiss. There was a pull between both of you like you had to be closer to one another. Fighting the urge to run your hand through his ash brown hair, you twisted your palms together, keeping your hands to yourself as he held you in his hand, tongues overlapping in a passionate kiss.

His facial hair slightly tickled your skin, but you didn't care. All you cared about was how exciting the kiss was, what it was doing to you on the inside, how _eye-opening_ it was.

The two of you didn't bother to pull away from the lip lock until the sound of a few wolf whistles from the others around the circle interrupted the moment.

You were the first to pull away from the kiss, brushing a thumb over your tingly kiss swollen lips.

After months of dating, Floch _never_ kissed you like that, for that you were certain.

Breathless, the kiss left your head airy and your lungs empty, you were quietly fighting for air in your seat. A wave of heat circled through your body, emitting from your core.

Jean found his way back to his spot, turning to look at Eren who whispered something in his ear before Eren proceeded with his turn. Jean slumped against the couch behind him, allowing a heavy exhale to seep from his lips while his chest dropped and his hands lay flat in his lap as his hazel eyes stared at you lazily. A swift breath caught in the back of your throat as you maintained eye contact with him. A light shade of pink dusted a cast over his milky skin.

A few rounds and more mindless kisses later, none of them came anywhere close to Jeans. You were slightly hoping that you'd be kissed again like that for another time during the game, but it didn't happen.

***************

The wooden frame of the pool table from earlier pressed into your backside as you intently scrolled through Instagram with the last bit of battery percentage you had remaining. _Floch's Instagram page_. Entirely a _bad_ idea to be stalking him like you were right now, but you reasoned with yourself that you just wanted to scroll through his pictures and see if he deleted all of the posts that had you in them as you'd down with yours respectively.

You knew it was a bad idea, but still, that didn't stop you. A pop-up warning you of your battery at ten percent should've been your final warning to stop stalking, but again, you didn't listen to reason.

"Hey, (Y/N)," a familiar voice cooed after the clicking of a door, causing a swarm of emotions to twist inside of you, "I didn't think you'd be back down here."

Turning your head to look at the stairs only to see Jean walking down them, you gave him a slight smile. After the basement cleared out after the rounds of spin the bottle was over with, you knew there'd be hard to no people left in the basement. So, when you wanted a little alone time to yourself, you knew the basement was the best option for you to stalk your ex.

"I didn't think you'd be back down here either," you admitted, lowering your phone slightly to look at him.

"My phone is missing, I think I accidentally left it down here earlier," his hair flopped on his forehead as he cleared the last two steps with a small jump to the floor, "what're you doing down here, playing pool by yourself?"

He teased, heading towards the area where all of you were collected earlier to play spin the bottle. You watched him from far away silently as he diligently searched for his phone. The temptation to help him search arose within you, but as soon as you were about to speak up, you paused, watching as he collected the device into his hand.

"Found it," he checked his cell before shoving it into his back pocket.

You shot him a faint congratulatory smile but stayed quiet.

Instead of heading back upstairs like you thought he would, he gravitated back towards you instead. Standing beside you, your eyes darted away from him as you noticed he was examining you.

"Are you okay, (Y/N)?"

Though you'd just been stalking your ex, it's not like you wanted to rant about him. To a stranger at that.

With a sigh, you shook your head, "kind of? I don't know," you tucked your phone away into your purse with a shrug.

"Not having any fun at the party or something?" His elbow bumped into your left arm with a slight playful nudge.

"It's not that," truly it wasn't that you weren't having fun, because you were.

The kiss you shared with Jean was the biggest thrill you'd had all night, scratch that, the biggest thrill you'd had all week. Almost something worthy enough to dream about. Because It's not like every day you share a mind-blowing kiss with a person you hardly knew.

"I came here to this party to get my mind off of a breakup, but being the loser I am, I'm standing here at a party dwelling over him," you cringed internally after the realization of how you'd just overshared a bit _too_ much.

_'Way to go.'_

"Well, let's get your mind off of him," Jean took a step off to the side and collected two cue sticks, handing you one, "here."

"But, I don't know how to play pool," you replied, nervously accepting the cue stick.

The only time you played pool was the one time on your phone when you played against Ymir. You lost horribly as the board had been swept clean before you ever got a second turn. The terrible defeat resulted in you deleting the app for good. You haven't played any form of pool since.

"I can teach you as we go along," he offered, a sheepish smile tugging at his lips.

Jean began to rack all of the balls into the triangle holder, and you watched him mid-process. Noticing how his pants hugged at his hips and how his hair fell over his forehead effortlessly as he reached over the table. Which only reminded you of the incident from yesterday.

"Jean," you spoke, leaning against the cue stick.

Jean lifted his head to look up at you, his eyebrows lifted with a curious expression on his face, "yeah?"

"I just wanted to say sorry again for what happened yesterday, I was in a rush to get back to my dorm and..."

_'And that's when Floch broke up with me.'_

"Seriously don't sweat it, (Y/N)," he said, making you visibly relax. "It's not often I have a pretty girl run into me," his intense light brown eyes shot you a wink.

All extremities began to tingle as your skin felt ablaze. You turned your head, facing away from Jean to look at the other end of the pool table as your heart fastened in your chest.

"Okay, we're ready to go," Jean eventually spoke again, lifting the holder up and away from the formation of balls. "Would you like to be the one to break the set?"

"Uh... I guess I could give it a try," you said more as a question than a defined answer.

Immediately Jean situated the white cue ball on the opposite end of the table at your response. The cue stick fumbled in your hands after swapping places with Jean. Which he took a step back, observing you fully.

The inside of your lip fell under attack once you sunk your teeth into its sensitive flesh, trying your best to position the stick accordingly. The butt of the stick was held wrapped in your hand tightly as your other hand struggled to find a comfortable position to hold the tip of the stick. You eyed the cue ball down, remembering back to the one time you played pool digitally against Ymir.

This was definitely _nothing_ like the phone game.

_'How the hell do you hold this thing?'_

Much to Jeans' amusement, he takes a step closer towards you until you can feel his body heat radiating from behind you.

"Try loosening your grip at the butt of the stick, and for your other hand," he chuckled as he viewed your fingers tangled around the thinner end of the stick, "hold the stick using your thumb and index finger, or your middle finger too for more support."

His instructions rambled through your head, resulting in you lowering the pool stick out of confusion. Turning your head to look at him, he took another step towards you.

"Can I..." Jean closed in on you, his waist brushing against you as he guides your hands over the stick with his, "here."

Sure it was a compromising situation from the outside looking in, but you knew it wasn't anything like that, what Jean was doing was just teaching you how to properly handle the cue stick. So why did your heartbeat fasten all of a sudden?

With Jean standing close behind you, you could drink in his musky scent. He was speaking, guiding your hands with his simultaneously, but you didn't hear anything clearly, only focusing on his hands felt on yours.

Jean guided your body gently into a proper stance, helping you aim down the stick. Through your peripheral vision, you noticed his eyes flicker back and forth from you to the task at hand through his ash-colored hair.

You still weren't entirely sure of what it was he was saying. Only when the balls somehow snapped and tumbled across the green-carpeted surface did you snap back to reality. With one look over your shoulder, Jean's eyes were immediately locked down on yours as he stood dangerously close behind you.

"Good job, I think you pocketed in a solid," his hazel orbs were speckled with a fire of emotion.

The proximity of his closeness was currently causing your heart to run laps through your chest. His body heat made your insides feel like putty.

"Thanks, Jean," your words fell from your lips weakly.

When his hazel eyes lowered to your lips, a sharp breath sucked through your mouth, noticing how his large hands were still lingering near your body. There was a shift in the air around both of you, naturally, the pool stick released from your grasp to roll out onto the table. His hands ventured along your body, hooking at your waist gently. He held onto you as you now faced him completely, your backside pressed against the pool table.

Jean lowered his head down, inching closer to your face, his breath fanning your neck, sending another chill up your spine. The bass from the music upstairs thumping in your ears rampantly, or was it your heart?

The pads of his fingers began toying with the small of your back as he held onto you. Your hands were pressed against his chest, feeling the sleek material of his black button-up shirt that covered his toned torso.

Like two forces being pulled together, Jean carefully placed his lips onto yours. In response, your hands trailed up his chest until they were wrapped around his neck, deepening the kiss. His soft lips against yours turned feverish like there was a dire need for _more._ Without breaking the intense lip lock, he swiftly lifted you by hooking his hands under your thighs and set you onto the edge of the pool table.

_'Forget about Floch.'_

A shiver tickled your spine as Jean broke away from the kiss to plant a trail of kisses on the crook of your neck, nibbling and sucking on your soft skin ever so slightly. A delicate moan escaped from your mouth from all the times Jean's lips kissed on your sweet spot.

"Jean," you breathed out with a pant, "what if someone walks in?"

Though you were trying to focus on having a good time, worrisome thoughts that someone could wander into the basement at any given moment and see both of you hooking up built a barrier in between you and having fun.

Jean pulled away to look at you through hooded lids, "let's hope they don't then for our sake," with one hand, he collects your chin, rubbing his thumb across your kiss swollen lips.

Sure, the thrill of messing around and the chance of getting caught excited you to a certain extent.

Your breath caught in the back of your throat as you stared at the man straddling you. His hips rocking between your legs in a tantalizing motion as he stared down at you beneath him through hooded lids.

Jean's free hand kneaded your thigh like dough, the crook of his thumb tucked at the band of your lace underwear, pulling them down your legs with ease. Discarding the sheer material after it'd been removed from your legs.

Down on his knees before you, Jean carefully led a trail of sweet open mouth kisses from your knee up from the inside of your thigh. His fingertips pushing the material of your dress upward along the way.

"Is this okay?" The heat of his words fans your exposed sex, causing your back to arch out of excitement.

"Mm..." you nod your head, incapable of forming a proper reply.

Your eyes flutter shut once his mouth closes in around your clit, his tongue dancing around in smooth motions against the bud that makes your core tighten. Naturally, you lay back against the pool table, managing to avoid any miscellaneous pool balls on the surface.

Both of his hands grip onto your hips from underneath your dress, moving around in tender circles to caress your body before he swipes his tongue between your soaking wet folds, gathering a taste of you. Another lick from his tongue starting from your core up to your clit has you panting lightly, practically begging for more.

His tongue centers on your clit once again, drinking you in as his tongue flicks rapidly against the bud, berating the nerves as you grind against his face. A thin layer of your slick coats the inside of your thighs as one of his fingers gently plunge into you. Without any hesitation, another one of his digits sinks into you, causing more friction.

His long fingers slide in and out of you, hitting your core in just the right way at perfect momentum. Pushing inside your spongy center at greater force while pulling out swiftly to repeat the process over and over again.

Your fingers tangle through his soft hair in intricate knots while holding onto him the only way you could.

"Jea... Jean," you breathed out a moan.

Hitting your core repeatedly as his tongue strokes and flicks in just the right spots, you finally began to feel your nerves bundle up in your core. It wouldn't be much longer at the pace he was going until he had you at your release.

"Don't stop, Jean," you groaned, almost begging him, "please."

That triggered Jean to grab ahold firmly onto your hip with his left hand, nails digging into your flesh as he fastened his pace both with his tongue and fingers. His fingers sloshed in and out, holding you against his face as your body couldn't take the pleasure anymore.

Eventually, you began to unravel, coming undone as you moaned out his name breathlessly, clenching around his fingers as the pent up nerves rippled through you. Jean planted sweet supple kisses against your clit, sucking slightly as his fingers slowed inside of you at a tantalizing pace while you rode out on your wave of release for as long as you could.

Just as you thought you'd found your end, Jean lifted his face away and replaced his mouth with his thumb. The ball of his thumb kneaded away in rough circles around your sensitive clit as his fingers inside of you picked up in speed. You squirmed under the immense pleasure that was almost unbearable as he milked you to the last drop until the same pent up nerves in your core began to build again. You fell at his mercy, slashing around, moaning outcries of bliss as you ruptured again for a second time, palpitating around the width of his large fingers.

Your heartbeat was ringing in your ears as your weight relaxed against the table. Your legs had gone completely numb.

Wobbly breaths exhaled from your lips as Jean carefully retracted his hand. Your eyelashes flutter open from the absence of his fingers, only to watch him push one finger after the next into his mouth, sucking your coat of slick off of his digits. Jean nudged his thumb across the corner of his mouth, wiping the excess fluid away.

Before anyone had the chance to walk through the door, you struggled to stand up straight after sliding off of the side of the pool table. At the same time Jean stood up from his crouched position, your bodies practically pressed together. You couldn't help but notice the prominent bulge in his pants as he'd been lingering against you.

Tugging your dress down to adjust yourself, you patted the material to eliminate any wrinkles after sliding on your underwear. Jean stopped to brush his knuckles against your cheek, you couldn't help but think how pleasing it felt to have his cool skin against your burning cheek. His hand folded, his palm cupping against your face as he dipped down to plant a dainty kiss on your lips. Your breathing was still unsteady as you paused to return the kiss.

His bangs tumbled over his forehead while his thumb smoothly raked over your bottom lip after your lips finally disconnected from one another. Ash brown locks dangled in your field of vision, clouding the definition of his face.

Jean tilted his chin, lifting his head slightly to the point where you could finally see the features of his face clearly. The corners of his lips were pinned up into a diminutive smile and a light shade of pink dusted his skin. You couldn't help but smile in response.

Was this your way of getting over a breakup? Hooking up with someone you hardly knew? You couldn't care enough to dwell over the thought.

Just as you were about to say something, the prominent buzz of waves of vibration emitting from your purse caused you to forget the words you had forming in your head. With eyes wide open, you broke out of the trance, searching for your bag that had fallen from your arm.

You mouthed an apology to Jean while struggling to answer your phone.

"Historia-"

"(Y/N), where are you? I've been looking for you because Ymir's drunk and I need help carrying her back to the dorm," Historia spoke over the sound of music in the background. You happened to catch the sound of Ymir groaning some nonsense as well.

"I'll meet you outside near the front door," you managed to say before all sound on the opposite end of the call ceased.

You pulled your phone away from your ear, noticing a completely black screen. Your phone finally died on you.

You were just lucky you'd happen to hear and speak with Historia before your phone went dead. Or what if she didn't manage to hear you?

"Shit."

A sudden urgency burned through you. You needed to go upstairs and meet with Ymir and Historia immediately.

"I have to go, Historia and Ymir are waiting for me upstairs," you managed to say before putting your phone away.

In return Jean took a step away from you, allowing you the space to break free from the pool table. Leaving no time to talk, you formed a beeline straight for the stairs. Jean clasped a hand around your wrist, stopping you mid-step on the second step of the staircase.

Turning around, you looked down at him as he stared up at you.

"So much for that game of pool, (Y/N)," he teased, the smallest playful smirk on his lips. "I'd like to believe you would've won."

A faint heartfelt laugh fell from your lips after hearing his comment, "bye, Jean," you said, and Jean freed your wrist from his grasp.

The tug at your heart was evident as you trailed up the stairs, leaving Jean in the dust behind you. You didn't want to leave the party just yet, you didn't want to _leave_ Jean. Definitely not after having such a mind-blowing hookup. But, by putting your wants aside on the back burner, you knew you had to leave and help Historia out.


	4. Little Birdie

The days from that eventful Saturday night passed on at a dreadful pace. It was official, midterms sucked a considerable amount, that much you were sure of. After a long week of exams, all you wanted to do was stay bustled in your bed after such a treacherous week.

Instead of taking a much-needed break with your free time, you were currently scrounging around your dorm. Carefully placing items that belonged to Floch in a cardboard box.

You had the slightest urge to keep ahold of one object, _just one_ , one of his jackets as a remembrance of what was of the two of you. But at the last second, you decided against the idea and packed it in with the rest of his stuff.

"Where are you going again?" Ymir dabbed at her bottom lip using the back of her wrist to wipe the settlement of milk away that came from her bowl of cereal.

"I have to meet up with Floch and give him his stuff back," you said, continuing to double-check your dorm if you'd happened to find everything that belonged to him.

"You're a better person than I am," Ymir said, tilting her head back to drink the rest of the milk out of the disposable plastic cereal bowl, "I'd throw all of his stuff away without batting an eye."

The other day, you and Floch had a conversation over text to meet up and swap your belongings. Floch messaging you out the blue surprised you greatly. You hadn't talked to him since last Friday, the day he broke up with you.

"Yeah, well I want my stuff back from him," you replied, while it wasn't a _complete_ lie, you wanted your possessions back, but you also wanted a reason to see him again.

_And you hated yourself for it._

While Floch hadn't been too much on your mind, as soon as he messaged you asking to meet up, you couldn't keep him off of your brain.

"I think I have everything," you said while picking up the cardboard box, "I guess I'll be leaving now."

Tucking the box under your arm, your hip supported the box as you turned to look at Ymir. Ymir was getting up from her bed, putting away the disposable bowl into a wastebasket.

"Don't waste too much of your time on him," Ymir laughed.

"It's a get in, get out type of operation, I swear," you rolled your eyes, a smirk pulling at your lips as you headed for the door.

"If he's a dick to you and hurts your feelings just let me know and I'll kick his ass for you," what Ymir said sounded like a promise she had every intention on keeping.

But you brushed off her brute antics with a gentle smile, "thanks, Ymir."

You knew she'd have your back, for that you were thankful.

——————

Scanning the cafe thoroughly, your gaze combed over the herd of people until familiar fiery red hair fell upon your vision. Floch sat hunched forward, his attention dwelling into his cell phone. The cardboard box you'd been holding onto slapped against the table's surface Floch was sitting at as soon as you approached him. Causing him to jump, he nearly dropped his phone he'd been so well immersed in.

"You scared me," Floch lowered his phone to look up at you.

You couldn't help but laugh, "sorry," you lied.

"Let's just get this over with," he said with a sigh as he reached for a wrinkled shopping bag beside him that held all of your possessions.

He'd barely bat an eye to shove your things into a bag while you'd had the common decency to at least fold and put away with his things accordingly? The sight of carelessness alone left bitter distaste in your mouth.

And now you were silently regretting the decision to handle this transaction in public.

Then again, what did he owe you? It's not like he was your boyfriend anymore, he didn't have to hold the same amount of respect for you or your belongings any longer.

Maybe you were just too nice, especially to the guy who'd dumped you.

"Uh," you swapped the box for your bag of belongings, "thanks, Floch."

As Floch was examining the contents of the box, you couldn't stop yourself from speaking again.

"So, how you been?" As soon as the words left your lips, you bit down on your tongue as a knee-jerk reaction.

' _Shut. The. Hell. Up.'_

Why worry about his well-being? It was obvious he didn't reciprocate the same concern.

"I've been okay," his eyes bored into you without any interest. "Do we have to do this forced small talk right now? I've somewhere to be," Floch spoke again, standing up from the table.

"Of course, yeah," you took a step back, allowing him some space.

You wanted him to turn around and say something else, say something to you. A goodbye at least.

But all hope was lost as you watched Floch's backside as he walked away from you. There was no inclination that he'd turn around and catch a glimpse of you on his way out the building.

The plastic material that ringed around your hand fell victim to your nails as your fist clenched tightly. Your fingernails dug deep into your palm's soft flesh while watching Floch as he finally cut from your line of sight. The departure only leaving a dull pinch at your heart.

The rest of your body hardly kept up with the speed of your feet as you headed for the direction you originally entered from. Even though you were going back to your dorm to check out the contents of the bag, you peeled back the bag to take a quick look inside.

Your breathing stilled when you noticed an unfamiliar pattern on a shirt settled on the top of the rest of the items in the bag. Pausing for a beat in time, your feet locked on the ground beneath you as your hand meticulously scooped the shirt out of the bag to examine the material.

The shirt smelled of floral perfume, the potent kind that'd give a straight headache with a singular whiff. There was one thing for certain, this _wasn't_ your shirt.

On the inside of your mouth, your teeth pinched at your cheek, fist crumbling the sheer cotton material as you pushed through the exit- only mildly running through people's way mid-process. Your heart was beating a thousand miles a minute out of blind rage.

There could only be one explanation, he'd been cheating on you with some other girl as the two of you were dating. That could be the only reason why there was a shirt in the bag that didn't belong to you. That or it was from a hookup after the two of you broke up, but you chose the latter.

Asking Floch about it definitely wasn't an option.

Within an instant, the shirt was tossed into the garbage as soon as you came across a waste bin. You didn't want to think about it. You knew nothing good would come about if you dwelled. But then again, what would change if you knew the truth?

With a sigh, you pushed your weight away from the trash can and took a moment to forward your attention to the dull sky above you. There you watched a formation of birds pass above in a tight-knit formation, and in the back of your head, you'd only wondered why you couldn't have been born as a bird instead. Then that way life wouldn't be as difficult, at least that was your thinking, even if it seemed a bit childish in the least.

"Are you feeling okay? You look like you're about to implode or explode or something," a familiar voice called out from beside, and your eyes reluctantly lifted to see Eren approaching.

"You hardly look recognizable when sober," you adjusted your stance to match face to face with Eren.

Eren stood tall, his hand hooked around the strap of his backpack that lazily laid on his right shoulder. His hair was tied back into a bun and the strands of his hair hardly weren't as messy from the first time you saw him.

"I'll take that as some sort of compliment and count that as you hitting on me," Eren whipped his head to knock all the loose strands of hair out of his face, a cheeky grin on his lips.

Out of response, you rolled your eyes but found yourself smiling as well. You could tell that under his flirtatious manner that he was only joking around.

"Sure, yeah, let's go with that."

"Back to my previous question, you're not going to explode or something-"

"No," you cut Eren short, "I'm not going to explode or whatever. My stupid ex pissed me off just now, that's all," you sighed, remembering the shirt that didn't belong to you.

"Exes tend to do that sometimes, but I wouldn't worry about it with whatever it was they did,"

"I guess," your voice trailed on, and you found yourself looking away from Eren to watch the crowd around you, unsure of what to say next.

It's only when Eren spoke again that your full attention was back on him in a heartbeat.

"Y'know a little birdie has been asking around about you."

"About me?" Your heart steadily galloped in your chest, "who?"

There could only be one person who'd been doing such things, you knew this. And you were thrilled in the least to think Jean had been speaking about you. But you didn't want to show any excitement and jump to conclusions in front of Eren, so playing coy would be your best bet.

Eren shot you a knowing look, "you two really seemed to hit it off when we were playing spin the bottle last week."

"Jean?" You asked with innocence.

"What about me?" A familiar voice from behind sent chills up your spine.

Through your peripheral vision, you watched as his presence cut to your right to stand in between you and Eren. Your toes tapped away in your shoes, deliberately battling away your nerves as you built up enough courage to look at the man you'd had a hook up with. And by Eren's word, the same man who'd been interested enough to ask about you.

"Speaking of the devil, I was just catching up with (Y/N) before you showed up," you felt a weight lift from your shoulders as Eren saved the moment.

Against your willpower, you couldn't contain your curiosity any longer when you finally glanced over at Jean. Jean's arms were wrapped around his chest as his narrow eyes were solely set on Eren.

"Talking about the party from last week," Eren spoke once again.

At the mention of the party, this was the first time Jean's eyes cut over to you. There was a glint of an indescribable emotion in his light brown hues as you held eye contact with him. You could almost put your finger on the emotion, it's almost like you'd seen the same look in his eyes before.

"Eren!"

Collectively, all three heads turned to a guy with short blonde hair with magnificent blue eyes.

"I'll catch you two later," Eren gave Jean a pat on his shoulder before sprinting off.

With Eren's newfound absence, there was a shift in the air around the two of you. Jean nonchalantly turned his head over to look at you once again. And instead of the cool exterior, he'd just been supporting, there was the faintest shift to relaxation in his demeanor.

"So," you twisted the shopping bag in your hand, unsure of what to say next.

"So..." Jean's voice trailed on, the corners of his mouth fighting the urge to curl into a grin.

"I'm sorry for just up and running the other night," you admitted, trying to cover your bashfulness.

Naturally, a bundle of nerves began to build up just by remembering the events that took place on the night of the party. Pressing your knees together, you fought back the memory that was clogging your mind to clear your headspace.

"If there's anyone who is in need of apologizing then it should be me for not getting any contact information to keep in touch with you when I had the chance."

A sharp jolt of electricity struck your heart, there was no point in trying to hide how fast your heart was beating.

_Was he flirting with you?_

' _No...'_

You played into his bid, "well, what's stopping you now, Jean?"

"Alright, I'll bite, can I see your phone please?"

"Sure."

Without any hesitation, you dug in your pocket for your phone. After unlocking your cell, the device flat in his palm that he held out. In a matter of seconds, Jean had your phone held out for you to take back.

"Here's mine," Jean said while handing his phone over to you.

Diligently you punched your number into his contacts, labeling yourself as your first name only. Only a few seconds later you were handing his phone back to him, his fingertips brushing against yours during the exchange.

"Sweet, now we can stay in touch," Jean bounced his phone against the palm of his hand. "Are you up to anything tonight?" He quickly added.

"Nothing much, really, why?" you replied, when in reality you'd been planning on binging YouTube videos in the comfort of your bed for the rest of the night and weekend.

"I was planning on going to this Halloween party tonight," his intense eyes scanned you up and down, "you should come too, it'll be fun."

"I'm assuming it would be some type of costume party? Does that mean I'd get to see you all dressed up?"

"Yeah I have a costume in mind," the lightest shade of pink crept on his face, "but you'll have to be there in person to see it."

"Sounds tempting, but I wouldn't know what to wear such short notice," It's not like you had a costume just lying about in your possession.

"Costumes are optional but they're encouraged."

"Give me some time to think about it, okay?" By looking at his face, you didn't have the heart in you to tell him no.

"Just shoot me a text whenever and I'll text you the address," Jean replied with a shrug, "or I'll just text you."

It wasn't until now that you noticed how close Jean was standing in front of you. Noticing the limited space between the two of you, his scent was intoxicating. A scent you were getting familiar with, warm cashmere, you could drown in it.

"Sounds good," you lifted a hand to send yourself off with a parting wave, "I have to get back to my dorm now, got some unfinished business to take care of."

And by unfinished business, you meant going through your belongings Floch gave back to you.

"Oh," Jean's smile faltered for a brief moment, but you didn't notice the disappointment in his voice when he spoke, "I'll leave you to it then."

"Bye, Jean," you'd already started on your departure, your feet sliding on the pavement beneath you as you took backward steps.

Jean found this amusing as he let out the faintest laugh, "see you later, (Y/N)."

Light brown hues stared through you until you turned your head with the rest of your body as you carried on home. During mid-process you glanced over your shoulder to look behind and steal a glance only to get caught by Jean himself. He'd turned to look over at you at the same time. A gallop in your heart and a boost in your step, you sped away in a fury of embarrassment.

Before you were even back to your room, there was a vibration from your phone. You pulled your phone out of your pocket as you scurried down the hallway, heading for your door that was just down the hall.

A message from Jean had your heart thumping.

' _Already?'_

Within an instant, you were checking the message.

**Jean:  
** I hope I get to see you again at the party tonight.

Along with Jean's message was an attachment of the address.

Unbeknownst to you, a smile had crept onto your face when you noticed that Jean had added a selfie of himself as the contact photo.

' _When did he have time to sneak a photo?_ '

Pushing through the door to your room, you immediately tossed your bag at your bed. The bag fell to the floor just before reaching the bed.

"What the hell?" Ymir asked with a bewildered expression, a towel clutched in her hand as she dried her hair.

"Ymir," your voice was urgent as the door closed behind you after entering the room.

Ymir who'd had every intention on keeping her earlier promise greeted you with concern, "what is it? Did something happen?"

"I need your help finding a costume for a party tonight."

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and I will have the second one out sometime in the next few days


End file.
